A day before the first phase of polling, Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar along with his two deputies Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu directed 250 poll observers for phase 2 to specifically focus on measures to “combat heat”. While votes will be cast for phase 2 on April 26, the low voter turnout for phase 1 polling which took place on Friday is being attributed to hot weather conditions which may have played a part in low turnouts in some regions.
The average voter turnout for phase 1 was recorded at 62.8 per cent, around 6-7 per cent less than in 2019, when 69.43 per cent turned up to vote in the opening phase of the general elections. The 2024 polls kicked off on April 19 and votes were cast on 102 seats spread across 21 states and Union Territories.
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) had predicted a heat wave for Tamil Nadu on April 18. EC will also seek possible reasons from Bihar for the low turnout so that measures can be taken to improve the numbers in the remaining six phases of elections in the state.
Five seats in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region (Nagpur, Ramtek, Bhandara-Gondia, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli-Chimur), eight seats in western Uttar Pradesh (Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina, Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit), 12 seats in Rajasthan (Churu, Nagaur, Sriganganagar, Jhunjhunu, Bikaner, Sikar, Jaipur City, Jaipur Rural, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur and Dausa), six seats in Madhya Pradesh (Shahdol, Sidhi, Jabalpur, Chhindwara, Balaghat and Mandla) along with one seat of Bastar in Chhattisgarh also recorded low turnout than previous elections.
The difference in voter turnout from 2019 was 2-3 per cent in Maharashtra, 5.24 per cent in Bihar, 8 per cent in Madhya Pradesh, 6 per cent in western U.P. and 5 per cent in Rajasthan.
All these regions saw temperatures around 40 degrees Celsius, acting as a hurdle for people to come out and vote. “The weather proved to be a foe rather than a friend,” said an observer on condition of anonymity.
Interestingly, politically charged West Bengal, where IMD has predicted heat wave conditions till April 23 saw the highest turnout of nearly 82 per cent. The state also reported violence from some constituencies although the polling was largely peaceful.
In the first phase of Lok Sabha elections, all seats Tamil Nadu (39), Uttarakhand (5), Arunachal Pradesh (2), Meghalaya (2), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Puducherry (1), Sikkim (1) and Lakshadweep (1) went to the polls. Some seats of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Maharashtra, Bihar, West Bengal, Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir and Chhattisgarh also voted in the first phase. While both seats of Manipur were covered in this phase, some polling stations in the Outer Manipur constituency will vote on April 26 in the next phase.